The Edel-optics.de Arena (known until May 2017 as Inselparkhalle) is a multi-function sports facility in the Wilhelmsburg district of Hamburg with a sports hall and a swimming pool. The hall is the home venue of the second division basketball team Hamburg Towers. It is owned by the Benno and Inge Behrens Foundation, and operated by the InselAkademie Sport- und Schulungszentrum Wilhelmsburg GmbH.[1]

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History

The sports hall was originally an exhibition site built for the International Garden Show 2013. Construction began in October 2011 and was completed in the spring of 2013. Work on the swimming pool began in June 2011 and was completed in May 2013.[1] After the garden show, the hall was converted into a sports hall at a cost of €14 million, of which the Benno and Inge Behrens Foundation contributed over €6 million. €4.5 million of funding was provided from the Hamburg International Building Exhibition, and the city of Hamburg paid the remainder, a little over €3.5 million.[2] The hall was inaugurated in late October 2014 with a Hamburg Towers match.[3]

The sports hall was commissioned by the Benno and Inge Behrens Foundation and IBA Hamburg.[4] The building work was carried out by bs2architekten from Hamburg.[5] In May 2017, the Hamburg optics group Edeloptics GmbH acquired the naming rights of the hall, and the name was changed to the "edel-optics.de Arena".[6]

In use

Arena during a Hamburg Towers game

Arena during a job fair

The edel-optics.de Arena serves as the home venue of the Hamburg Towers professional basketball team,[7] and the BG Baskets Hamburg wheelchair basketball team.[8] It has a spectator capacity of 3,400 seats for basketball and 2,800 seats for wheelchair basketball.[9] In August 2015, the basketball Supercup was played in the Inselparkhalle, featuring the national teams of Turkey, Poland, Latvia and Germany.[10]